The Black-Moon's Scabbard
by WeirdoKen
Summary: Ichigo loses Zangetsu, but on the brink of death he meets an unlikely ally. Will Ichigo be able to shape his destiny with his new partner? Fully revised version of "The Edgeless Night" Rated M for Violence & Gore. [Ichigo x Sayafushi]
1. Binding Halves

"Aah…"

Ichigo looked at his hand through dazed and blurry eyes; his ears violently ringing, his body screaming in mute pain.

"Blood?" His voice was hoarse and quiet, barely above a whisper. _"That's right, it's mine…"_ It hit him, the sudden realization of what just happened. A man called Aizen Sōsuke had just turned traitor and had proceeded to completely decimate the entirety of the Soul Society, barehanded.

Ichigo had tried to stop the rogue Captain, but ultimately, even with all his might, he was stopped with a single finger and his Bankai was shattered into a million different pieces in the process.

When Aizen had shattered Tensa Zangetsu, he felt a crippling pain erupt from the very depths of his soul. It hurt more than any wound he had received so far.

 _"_ _Ol' man Zangetsu, you there?"_ Ichigo called out to source of his Shinigami power via their mental link.

…

There was no reply, he couldn't even hear the mocking laughter of his inner Hollow either.

"Oh my! Kurosaki-san, you seem to have regained consciousness faster than I expected!" The familiar cheery voice of Kisuke Urahara rang through his ears.

"Urahara-san?" Ichigo turned to see the green clad shop keeper sitting a meter of so in front of him. He then noticed he wasn't even in the Soul Society anymore, he was in Urahara's shop.

"It seems like you've been through a lot Ichigo my boy!" Urahara cheered jovially behind his paper fan.

"Urahara-san, what happened to Zangetsu? I can't hear him," Ichigo immediately questioned with a deep scowl on his face, completely ignoring Urahara's small talk.

"Do you remember what happened on Sōkyōku Hill?" Kisuke replied, becoming serious.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked with a confused look. "I remember being completely beaten by Aizen and he also broke Tensa Zangetsu with a single finger," Ichigo gritted his teeth at the memory, he was powerless to stop the traitorous Shinigami from harming his friends and in the end he got away effortlessly. "Oh, I think I heard Yoruichi-san say something while picking me up, then I don't remember the rest."

"Ah I see, so you do remember most of what happened," Kisuke replied, crossing his legs as he did. "After you passed out from severe blood loss and other extreme injuries, Inoue-san had managed to do a quick patch job on you, healing most of your wounds but was unable to continue due to some external force,"

"What external force?" Ichigo simply questioned, getting annoyed at Kisuke's cryptic way of speaking.

"Your Inner Hollow of course," Kisuke bluntly told him without hesitation. Ichigo gulped at that, he had known that, that other being inside him wasn't normal, he wanted to believe that it wasn't a Hollow, he really did.

"What about Zangetsu? After he broke, I can't sense him within my soul anymore, I can't even talk to him," Ichigo decided to get back on topic, trying to forget the fact he had an Inner Hollow trying to claw its way to the surface of his soul and take over.

"Kurosaki-san, Your Zanpakutō, will never come back," Kisuke's voice was grim, one could immediately tell that what he had just stated was no joke.

"W-what do you mean?!" Ichigo shot up to face Kisuke, ignoring the searing pain in his chest.

"Tessai!" Kisuke called out. Tessai came rushing out of the kitchen door and struck an eccentric pose.

"How may I be of service Urahara-dono?!" The tall man boomed.

"I need you to tend to Ichigo's wounds with Kidō, it seems Orihime's rush job isn't holding," Kisuke explained quickly to the tall muscular man.

"Right away!" And with that a green aura encompassed Tessai's hand and he began healing Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-san I need you to stay completely calm okay?" Kisuke asked politely, his expression hidden behind his fan. Ichigo just nodded and let the hat wearing Shinigami continue. "If a Zanpakutō breaks while in Bankai, it can never be restored."

"What?!" Ichigo exclaimed at the top of his voice. "There's no way Zangetsu's gone! That can't be true!"

"I'm sorry Ichigo, because of me, you ended up going to the Soul Society to save Kuchiki-san and lost your Zanpakutō because of it, I truly am sorry," Kisuke bowed his head down in deep shame and regret.

"So there's absolutely no way of getting him back?" Ichigo asked, with harsh breaths and pained eyes.

"No…" Was all Kisuke replied with.

"I see," Ichigo fell silent for a moment, as if coming to a horrifying revelation and who could blame him? He had just found out that his Zanpakutō was gone forever.

After a silent minute or two, the orange haired teen got up and bowed his head just a little. "Thank you for everything Urahara-san," Ichigo grabbed his Shinigami garb that was lying on the ground, swung it over himself and slipped his arms trough it before tying the white sash around his waist. "Thank you for healing me Tessai-san."

"Ichigo, take this, you may need it, you never know," Kisuke threw a skull shaped badge at Ichigo's direction. With a swift motion Ichigo caught it and inspected it with a curious gaze.

"What's this?" Ichigo simply asked, turning to face Kisuke.

"Captain Ukitake gave this to Yoruichi to give to you, it's your Substitute Shinigami badge, it allows you to eject your body out of your soul, much like the glove I gave Kuchiki-san not too long ago and even acts as a sort of identity pass for when interacting with neighbouring Shinigami on patrol." Kisuke explained.

"Thanks," And with that, he simply left.

"Urahara-dono, is this alright?" Tessai questioned, turning himself to face his long-time friend.

"I'm not quite sure Tessai, what happens now will be entirely up to Ichigo," Kisuke replied with a sigh. Tessai nodded swiftly before making his way to the kitchen area once more to prepare dinner.

* * *

"So yeah, I've lost my Zanpakutō forever it seems," Ichigo bluntly stated to his three friends: Orihime, Chad and Uryu. He had met them on his way home, apparently they were on their way to check up on him after Ichigo had been taken from the Soul Society by Yoruichi.

"So you're still a Shinigami?" Uryu stated, raising his glasses up.

"Yeah, but what good is a Shinigami without their Zanpakutō?" Ichigo almost snarled out, frustration seeping into his voice. His shoulders sagged slightly and he simply walked past them, without sparing them a single glance.

Chad, Uryu and Orihime couldn't say anything, it's not that they didn't want to say anything, but they just couldn't. They had no idea how intricate and deep the bond between a Shinigami and their Zanpakutō was, so they didn't know what kind of pain Ichigo was currently feeling.

 _"_ _Damnit!"_ Ichigo cursed mentally. _"My weakness caused me to not only lose to Aizen, but I also lost Zangetsu…I'm so utterly pathetic!"_ Ichigo felt sickened by his own inability to even protect his own Zanpakutō.

"FATHER'S RETURN HOME KICK OF LOVE!" Came the booming voice of the resident elder of the Kurosaki. Ichigo simple moved his head to the side and let his father sail past him as he silently made his way upstairs. _"What on earth happened to my son while he was at the Soul Society?"_ Was all that came to Isshin's mind, as he watched his son head to his room without even registering his presence.

"Dad? Was that Onii-chan?" Yuzu questioned as she came out of the living room, sporting a confused look.

"Yeah, but he seems rather down right now, so let's just leave him be for the moment," Isshin explained giving Yuzu a cheesy thumbs up and a goofy grin. Yuzu just hesitantly nodded.

"I hope Onii-chan's ok," Yuzu murmured, heading back to the living room.

 _"_ _Me too,"_ Isshin said to himself silent with a grim expression.

* * *

"Oh hey Ichigo! You're back already?! I swear I didn't use this body to pick up girls or anything so please don't kill m-!" Kon was cut off from his rambling when Ichigo pressed his Substitute badge against his body's chest and true to Kisuke's word, it ejected Kon's soul pill out of Ichigo's body.

Ichigo simply phased into his body and picked up Kon's soul pill and simply put it in his desk drawer. He definitely wasn't in the mood for Kon's noisy antics right now.

He simply made his way over to his bed and collapsed on it. _"After all he had done for me, this is how I repay him huh?"_ Ichigo hadn't known Zangetsu for long, but he understood that he'd always had been there with him; now he was gone, gone forever and he blame himself entirely for this.

Ichigo had been too busy lamenting himself to notice how physically and mentally exhausted was, before he could even notice, he had already fallen into a deep slumber.

* * *

A giant tear appeared in the sky, it seemed to lead into a static-like endless world. It seemed almost like the background noise you see when you flick over to an empty channel on a T.V.

"I wonder where you are, Kurosaki Ichigo…" A large distorted voice echoed throughout the silent night-time city. The voice belonged to a large, mossy, humanoid-like figure that donned a white master decorated with various tribal marking.

* * *

"What the hell?!" Ichigo reeled back as he felt a massive, unfocused Reiatsu wash over him. _"This definitely belongs to a Hollow, it somehow feels really familiar too…"_ Ichigo recognized instantly, his scowl deepened slightly at that. "But what can I even do against it? I don't even have my Zanpakutō…" Ichigo was thinking over the idea of letting the Shinigami patrolling the town deal with it, but immediately ruled out that possibility noticing the Reiatsu belonging to the Hollow was extremely potent. "There's no way, some unseated officer would be able to deal with it,"

Ichigo grabbed his Shinigami badged and thrust it onto his chest allowing his spiritual forme to burst from its Human exterior. _"I'll just have to beat this Hollow down with my bare hands!"_ Ichigo dashed out his window with blinding speed, he then started to hone in on the massive Reiatsu signature. Even for someone who wasn't adept at sensing Reiatsu at all, he could definitely sense where this massive amount was coming from.

"Oh there you are, Kurosaki Ichigo," Ichigo, acting on his instincts whirled around and brought his arm up to stop a monstrously giant fist in its tracks.

"You!" Ichigo hissed out loud, pure hatred reflecting in his brown eyes.

"That's right, I'm back again, to exact my revenge on you! Kurosaki Ichigo!" The Grandfisher roared with sadistic glee. "But I'm not going to just kill you, oh no, that'd be too easy. I'm going to slowly rip your limbs off one by one until you're nothing but a pile of flesh on the ground," The Grandfisher was practically drooling at this rate.

"In your dreams you giant freak!" Ichigo roared, charging straight at the Hollow that had murdered his Mother. Ichigo cocked his arm back and unconsciously empowered it with large amounts of his Reiatsu, he immediately thrust it forward aiming from Grandfisher's mask, wanting to shatter it off his face in one blow. But to his surprise the over-sized Hollow disappeared with in a sonic boom.

Ichigo blinked. One moment he was in the air ready to smash the Grandfisher's face in, the next he was in a concrete, meter deep crater writhing in pain. Though his ears were ringing violently, he could still hear the Grandfisher cackling with glee from above him.

 _"_ _What the hell, he wasn't this fast when I last fought him, now that I think about it, he looks a lot different now too,"_ Ichigo mused as he tried to regain feeling in his body.

"You must be wondering why I'm so much stronger now than before right?" The Grandfisher cockily stated, jumping down from the invisible platform of Reiatsu he had created. "You see, I'm now a special class of Hollow, I was once just a regular Hollow when we first met but now that I've removed part of my mask, I'm an Arrancar!" He roared triumphantly.

"So you just became a whole lot uglier huh? That's what it sounds like to me," Ichigo bit back, breathing harshly as he made his way out of the crater.

"Still acting cocky huh? Try to keep that cocky attitude up after you've seen this!" The moss covered Arrancar reached for its back and pulled out a giant skyscraper size sword.

"No way! That's a –"

"That's right, this is a Zanpakutō!" The Grandfisher bellowed, revelling in Ichigo's horror. "A Zanpakutō is relative to the size of its wielder's Reiatsu, so you never even had a chance at defeating me in the first place!"

Without warning, the Grandfisher brought down his towering Zanpakutō with full force," Ichigo pushing his body to the limits, managed to Shunpō out of the way just in time. _"That was way too close,"_ Ichigo cursed mentally.

"Why do you not draw your Zanpakutō, Kurosaki Ichigo?" The green behemoth questioned, his anger rising. "Do you intend to try and defeat me with your bare hands?!"

Ichigo didn't reply, only keeping a steady gaze on his enemies own Zanpakutō, and body movements.

"If you're not going to draw your sword, then I have no choice but to force you to use it! I cannot be satisfied if I don't crush you at full force!" Grandfisher brought down his blade once more, but even having taken a big hit, Ichigo was still able to nimbly evade the oversized blade with relative ease.

A giant face splitting grin appeared on the Hollow's face as it spotted a human not too far away from their fight. "I wonder if you'll be upset if I kill that little bug over there." He cackled madly.

Ichigo's eyes instantly darted towards the person who was walking down the empty street. He was about to block the giant Hollow's path when long protrusion skewered him through his chest the moment he had become distracted.

"Gah!" Ichigo coughed up copious amounts of blood as he stumbled to his knees, blood began flowing into his lungs making it exceedingly hard for him to even breathe.

"How sad, even at the brink of death you don't draw your Zanpakutō…" The Grandfisher slowly made his way over to Ichigo's bleeding body. "This was almost too easy, well after I kill you, I'll go and slaughter the rest of the town I suppose," The large Arrancar stated nonchalantly.

 _"_ _So this is how I die huh?"_ Ichigo thought, completely frustrated. _"Shinigami are completely worthless without their Zanpakutōs it seems,"_ Ichigo would have laughed if he were in any other situation, but now all he could feel was a deep rooted regret.

With that final depressing thought, Ichigo succumbed to unconsciousness.

* * *

 _Crying…_

He could hear someone crying. It was such a sad sound. A quiet, faint whimper in fact. The sound reverberated through Ichigo, causing his eyes to snap wide open.

" _Where am I?"_ The orange haired Shinigami thought to himself. All he saw was a never ending blackness. A cold unforgiving, lonely blackness. His eyes wandered the empty world, trying to find the source of where the crying was coming from.

After a moment, his brown eyes landed on her.

She was lying on the ground, her long, straight, silver, reflective hair sprawled out around her, a sizable stream of tears cascaded down her ivory skin. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of crimson red a stark contrast to her white kimono that had intricate red flower designs decorated all over.

Ichigo frowned, silently making his way over to her. "You ok?" Ichigo asked quietly, kneeling down her to her.

As soon as those words left ichigo's lips, she sat up, almost instantly, a look of complete shock plastered on her snow white face. She tried to speak, but words didn't come out of her mouth.

She reached up and touched his face, pinching his cheek a little, causing him to wince in pain at the sudden contact, then she pinch her own arm.

"I'm not dreaming?" She croaked out. Her soft voice sounded like it hadn't been used in a lifetime.

"Well, I can't really say for sure. I was about to be eaten by a Hollow, then I suddenly ended up here," Ichigo explained bluntly, not quite sure what to make of the current situation. "Wherever here is…"

"You know of the term Hollow?" She questioned, with slightly wide yet hopeful eyes.

"Yeah," Ichigo replied simply, not quite understanding the big deal.

"Then you must be a Shinigami!" Her face lit up, as if she were the sun. A childlike happiness now covered the sad expression he had seen just a moment ago.

"I am, but a completely pathetic and useless one," Ichigo stated, as if berating himself. "A worthless Shinigami who let their Zanpakutō get destroy because he was too weak…" Ichigo punched the nonexistent ground in anger. "Why were you crying?" Ichigo asked, trying to change the subject, not wanting to dwell on the sad memory.

"I'm so very lonely…" She whispered out, tears threatening to breach the surface of her blood stained eyes once more. "I've been alone ever since I was created."

"Created?" Ichigo questioned with a raised brow. She nodded sadly, wiping a few stray tears of her skin using her sleeves of her kimono.

"I'm a Zanpakutō after all," Ichigo's eyes went wide at the revelation. She gently lifted her hand, allowing a physical manifestation of her sword form to appear, as if to prove her point.

It was a simple sword, one with a white hilt, an oval guard and a blade on the slightly shorter end of Katana standards.

"Wait, aren't Zanpakutō born from the soul of the Shinigami? If you've been alone ever since you've been created, that would be mean you had no Shinigami to begin with, how is that possible?" Ichigo questioned with a quizzical look, turning to face her once more.

"I was created personally by Nimaya Ōetsu, the creator of the Zanpakutō, a Captain of the Royal Guards, the personal protectors of the Reiō and his dimension, The Spirit Palace." She told him with a small smile. "When he had finished creating me, he looked at me with such a heart broken expression, it was as if he was pitying me. He said, "I'm so sorry," before he put me in a container, floating in some sort of liquid. And that was the very last time I ever saw him."

"Why would he do such a thing?!" Ichigo spat angrily, he knew that Shinigami and Zanpakutō had to have a healthy relationship. They looked after each other, they were partners- no greater than that, it was a relationship so closely tied, not even after an infinite amount of time passing could the bond be broken.

Then why did Nimaiya just throw her aside just like that?

"It's ok, you do not have to get angry for me, and I fully know the reason behind why he did what he did." She said with a soothing voice, despite her emotional state, she tried to calm the young ex-Shinigami down despite her own inner turmoil. "I am a blade too dangerous to wield…If anyone got a hold of me, it would surely end in eternal bloodshed, for everyone around the wielder and the wielder too."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, his anger subsiding just a little.

"I am a blade that can cut through anything. I believe Nimaya refereed to me as "The One Hit, One Kill Sword." There isn't a single thing in this universe that can escape this truth." She whispered on the verge of tears again. "I am a blade that can never be damage, I am a blade that is never stained in blood and I am a blade that can't be held within a sheath, therefore he didn't recognize me as a Zanpakutō, a true Sword…" And that did it, she started to weep once more, letting her tears flow unrestrained.

Ichigo was shocked. Completely flabbergasted in fact. This poor girl had been branded as a failure by her own creator and left to spend an eternity in complete solitude, all because he feared her ability? This did not sit right with Ichigo at all. No, it damn right pissed him off!

"E-erm-"Ichigo began but the moment his mouth opened it instantly became useless. _"How the heck do I comfort people? I'm not exactly good at it, shit!"_ Ichigo was about to start panicking when he suddenly realized all the times his twin sisters, Yuzu and Karin would come to him crying, needing comforting. It couldn't be that much different right?

He gently placed a hand on her head and slowly brought it towards his chest. The unnamed Zanpakutō was completely shocked at this action, having never felt such contact before.

"I was wondering…"Ichigo looked away a little embarrassedly scratching the side of his cheek with his free hand as he did. "Would you do me the honour of becoming my Zanpakutō?"

The abandoned Zanpakutö's head instantly looked up, she had a look of complete disbelief on her face. She looked for any signs of deceit in Ichigo's eyes. She found none, just a pure determination and un-ending resolve and compassion.

"Zangetsu would want this…"Ichigo replied with a sad smile. "He would want me to continue living for as long as possible, even if it meant it was at the cost of his own existence, he's just that kinda guy." Ichigo could only smile at the fond memories he and Zangetsu shared, all the experiences that they had been through, the hardships, the pain and victories. "Well? What do you say?" Ichigo stood up and lowered his hand down, inviting her to take it.

"A-are you sure you want such a disgrace of a Zanpakutō?" She sniffled, looking down slightly in shame. That was it, Ichigo had had enough.

"Hey listen right here! Who wouldn't want a Zanpakutō like you? You're amazing! I think this Nimaya guy needs to get his ass kick off his high horse for doing what he did to you!" Ichigo stated, a voice full of conviction. "And also I don't want you to be alone anymore, I know how hard it can be." Ichigo finished with a sad smile.

The white clad woman could only stare at him in complete shock. She had been disowned by the creator of all Zanpakutō, cast away as a failure and now this boy would willingly throw away any chance of meeting his original Zanpakutō, one whom he must have shared countless hardships and fond memories with, just to save her from eternal solitude?

"T-then since it's ok with you, please allow me to be your Zanpakutō!" She quickly stuttered, not wanting to miss this once in a life time chance. They both stood up and faced each other, both smiling as they did, one more so than the other.

"My name is, Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo said in a strong yet, kind voice, deciding to lead off with the obligatory introductions.

As if by pure ingrained instinct, her name came to her, bursting from her Ruby coloured lips.

"And my name is Sayafushi," She couldn't help let loose a few tears of pure happiness roll down her face. _"I've finally found my Shinigami."_

And the world went completely white, shining with the brilliance of a Thousand Stars

The Real World.

A pillar of blinding white light erupt from Ichigo's seemingly lifeless body, parting the clouds as it did. A blindingly fast streak of sliver rocketed its way out of the smoke and flying debris, effortlessly cleaving through the solid concrete ground as it did.

Before the unsuspecting Grandfisher could register what had come its way, the string of silver sliced its way through the Arrancar's body, perfectly down the middle.

"I don't know how you managed to come back to life Kurosaki Ichigo, but now that you've finally drawn your sword, I can crush you with all my might!" The Grandfisher laughed maniacally.

"Too bad for you ugly, you're already dead," Ichigo simply retorted, bringing Sayafushi back down.

"Wha-" Before the Arrancar could question what he meant by that, his body parted down the middle erupting into a fountain of blood, before dissipating into black spirit particles, no doubt from having been cleansed.

After Ichigo made sure the Hollow he despised most was properly dispatched, he looked down at his new blade and when he did, his breath hitched. _"Beautiful,"_ was all that came to his mind.

Sayafushi looked considerably different from what he had first seen when she showed him her Zanpakutō forme for the first time.

Now her hilt seemed almost transparent, like a crystal gem, it carried a familiar chain too, reminiscent to that of Tensa Zangetsu which mirrored the colour of her hilt.

Her guard hadn't changed much, the only difference being it was a little thinner and more narrow. The part which had changed the most, was undoubtedly the blade. Instead of being a black blade with a silver edge, it was now completely black and had become far thinner. He had also noticed the length of the blade had nearly double too.

"This is my Shikai," Ichigo heard from within his mind.

" _It's really beautiful,"_ Ichigo complimented, brandishing it in the artificial light that was surrounding them, admiring how it refracted from the blade in several different directions.

Sayafushi's cheeks flushed slightly at the sudden praise, she had never been complimented before in her entire life, only ever being called a failure.

Ichigo stumbled slightly, suddenly feeling like his entire body weighed ten times more than it actually did.

 _"_ _Shit! I need to get to Inoue to heal my wounds,"_ Ichigo thought, panting heavily.

"Ichigo! Are you ok?!" Came the worried yell of Kisuke Urahara, who was donning Benihime in his hand.

"You're late, Hat'n'Clogs," Ichigo smirked slightly, turning his sore, bloody body to face his former mentor.

"What on Earth happened here?" Kisuke questioned, surveying the heavily damaged area.

"Well I was about to get killed by the Grandfisher, but then I got a new Zanpakutō, somehow…And kicked his ass," Ichigo extremely uninformative explanation caused Kisuke to sweat drop.

"Kurosaki-san, Shinigami just don't get new Zanpakutōs overnight you know," Kisuke explained.

"Then how do you explain Sayafushi right here?" Ichigo pointed to Sayafushi, raising her up to eye-level.

"I…Can't" Urahara Kisuke for the first time in his life, couldn't find an answer to something. "Wait, it can't be…"

"Can't be what?" Ichigo questioned curiously.

"Nothing, nothing! Never mind little ol' me!" Kisuke laughed merrily bring his fan up to his face.

"If you say so…" Ichigo sweat dropped, not bother to pry any further.

After their quick back and forth, Kisuke brought Ichigo back to the shop and together with Tessai, fully healed the Substitute Shinigami. Once he was back at one hundred percent, Ichigo had made his way back home and into his room through his window.

He was far too worn out to deal with his crazy dad and his shenanigans right now. "So tired…" Ichigo mumbled into his pillow. Despite his sore body and aching mind, Ichigo couldn't help but smile. He had a new Zanpakutō and with it he could now protect everyone he held dear to him.

And this time, he'd definitely protect his Zanpakutō too, he would never let what happened to Zangetsu happen again.

With new found resolve, Ichigo peacefully fell asleep.

"Ichigo… wake up Ichigo," Sayafushi called out, shaking his body gently as she did

"Huh?" Ichigo groggily answered, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"I'm sorry for waking you, but I was wondering if we could talk just a little bit more." The white Zanpakutō spirit asked shyly, with a hopeful expression.

"Sure thing, I don't mind." Ichigo paused after he had finished his sentence, something was very, very different. "What the hell happened to my Inner World?" Ichigo looked on in a mixture of shock and awe.

His once matte blue coloured Skyscrapers, were now completely see through and different in design. Before being quite chunky, they had become slimmer and each building was slightly different of one another. In the reflection of each building was a direct mirror imagine of his town. Ichigo had also noticed the sky was almost completely black, save for a few specks of white which were without a doubt stars and there also was a three-quarter moon looming over them, shining brightly as it did.

"This is the by-product of our souls merging." Sayafushi explained, sweeping her hand across the scenic view. "It's quite the sight to behold, isn't it?" She said with a soft smile.

"Yeah, it's a lot different from what it used it to be, that's for sure." Ichigo added, reminiscing as he did. "Speaking of changes, you a little look different too," He said, inspecting her with curious eyes.

True to his word Sayafushi had changed indeed. Her eyes had gone from a deep crimson, to a bright amber, her Kimono sleeves were now longer, gliding across the floor with each movement and the once blood soaked flowers that decorated it were now pitch black.

Ichigo couldn't help but noticed a white crescent-moon shaped hairpin firmly placed on the left side of her head. It seemed to be made of the same material as the hilt Sayafushi's Zanpaktou forme held.

"Since I am now a physical manifestation of your power, it's only natural I changed," She explained smiling at him. "Ah, Ichigo, I almost forgot, would you like me to train you from now on? Of course I'm not going to force you or anything!" The flustered Zanpakutō asked, nervously looking at her new master.

Ichigo could only chuckle at her shyness. "Sayafushi, you don't need to be so formal with me you know? We're Shinigami and Zanpakutō, bound together till the day we die after all," Ichigo reminded her with a small smile. "And of course, I'd really appreciate it if you did train me, I only have about five days' worth of formal training under my belt anyway, I could definitely use a lot more."

"That's great! Then how about we start tomorrow?" Sayafushi chirped happily.

"Yeah, that'd be fine with me, I've got no school tomorrow anyway," Ichigo responded with a nod.

"Oh! I can even teach you Kidō!" Sayafushi added with a hopeful smile.

"Kidō? I've never really had the chance to get to learn that at all, and if I'm anything like Renji, I'll probably suck really badly at it," Ichigo admitted with an embarrassed look.

"I'll try my best to teach you Reiatsu control, manipulation and awareness, so that practicing Kidō will become easier for you," Sayafushi almost pleaded, clasping his hands with her own.

"Alright, fine, fine, I guess it couldn't hurt to learn some Kidō, but how do you even know Kidō anyway? I thought Zanpakutō were limited by what they knew about themselves and their wielder?" Ichigo questioned confusedly.

"Have you forgotten Ichigo? I was crafted with a fragment of Nimaiya Öetsu's Soul, His knowledge of Kidō is very expansive, and one of the other Captains of the Royal Guards is a master at Reiatsu control and awareness, she can even strengthen other people's with hers," She explained with a matter-of-factly-tone.

"Well then, I guess I'm in your care from now on," Ichigo conceded, knowing he was eventually going to have to learn it, whether he liked it or not. How hard could Kidō be anyway? Renji could fire a few mid-level Hadō's without incantations pretty convincingly, so if he had Sayafushi teach him with all her knowledge, he surely could become fairly adept at it with some hard work right?

Sayafushi noticed Ichigo trying his best to keep himself awake, but failing terribly to do so. She couldn't help but smile, he was trying his best for her since she had selfishly asked for him to stay awake just a little while longer despite knowing he was exhausted.

"Ichigo, come," She instructed, patting her lap motioning him to lay down on it, he blushed slightly and was about to refuse, but seeing her hopeful look, he hesitantly obliged. "I'm terribly sorry for keeping you awake," She apologized sincerely, running her fingers through his disheveled hair.

"Nah, it's alright, you don't have to apologize," Ichigo dismissed her apology with a tired yawn. "It must have been hard being alone for so long."

"It was," She replied somberly, before gazing down at him. "But I'm not alone any-more, right?" She finished with a cheerful smile, looking down at him.

"Yeah, you're right," Ichigo respond in-kind, sighing contently, fixing his posture to a more comfortable one, before closing his already heavy eye-lids and drifting off to a peaceful slumber.

"Goodnight Ichigo."

* * *

"Nimaiya."

"Yo! What's shakin' my main man Ichibei?!" Nimaya jovially yelled spinning around on his heel to face the Monk.

"Why did you do that?" Ichibei Hyösube questioned with a raised brow, making his way over to the progenitor of all Zanpakutō.

"Why did I do what? ~" Nimaiya innocently responded with a large toothy grin, this intern caused the large man to sigh at his fellow Zero Squad Captain's antics.

"You know what I mean Nimaiya, why did you give Kurosaki Ichigo _that_ Zanpakutō?" The bearded Monk clarified.

"Ichi-Chan seemed like he was in a bit of a pickle, so I decided to help a brotha' out! What's so bad about that?" Nimaiya exclaimed striking an eccentric pose.

"Of all the Zanpakutō you could have given him…" Ichibei could only sigh, he shouldn't have been surprised, really. This was the most random and eccentric member of the Royal Guards after all, there was no changing that.

"Also, two incomplete and lonely souls coming together, don't you think it's just poetic?" Nimaiya added, with a melancholic expression hidden behind his bright gold shades.

"Ah, so that's the reason." Ichibei realized, with slightly wide eyes. "You just couldn't stand to see her like that could you?" Ichibei let out a large toothy grin before putting an arm around his fellow Zero Squad member. "You can be quite the compassionate individual when you want to be, eh' Nimaiya?"

Nimaiya only smiled in response with a knowing look. "I guess so."

* * *

 **Yo.**

 **This is indeed the first of many to come chapters of my new story. This is NOT a ONE-SHOT, unlike the other story I posted, that was basically a draft of sorts for this story.**

 **I'd like to thank Mas2009 for his/her review, pointing out that I had chosen a terrible timeline to start the story at. This has now been fixed.**

 **I'd like to thank everyone else who reviewed too.**

 **This story won't follow the Bleach Cannon 100% of the time. It will definitely deviate from it at some parts, but I'll definitely try and keep it as close as I can.**

 **About the update schedule for this story. I haven't really thought of one yet, but I'll try to give you guys at least 1 chapter every 2 weeks.**

 **Anyway, leave a review if you'd like, it motivates me a lot.**

 **WeirdoKen.**


	2. Training & Bad Omens

It was currently morning, and the Kurosaki residence was lively as per usual.

Isshin was tending to some injured or sick patients in the clinic, Karin was getting ready for Football practice and Yuzu was busy preparing breakfast. All in all, it was a regular Saturday morning.

Except there was one thing out of the ordinary, Kurosaki Ichigo was up in his room, currently being scolded by his new Zanpakutō.

"Ichigo, last night I finally managed to finish sifting through all your memories and I was really disappointed to find out that you're a brainless brute!" Sayafushi scolded with a stern look. This caused Ichigo to hang his head in shame.

"I can explain! Zangetsu was meant to be wielded like that!" Ichigo tried to defend himself, but Sayafushi was having none of it.

"Ichigo, you must have noticed this, but your Inner Hollow wielded Zangetsu a lot differently then you did, am I wrong?" Sayafushi paused to get a response from the orange haired teen.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, he did," Ichigo answered, he placed a curled finger on his chin as he thought back to the time when he had fought him.

"That was how Zangetsu was truly meant to be used," Sayafushi stated, gently placing her hands on her hips.

Noticing Ichigo looking rather guilty of his actions, Sayafushi walked up to him and placed a hand on his cheek "Ichigo, I am only trying to help you by pointing out your weaknesses, there's no shame in accepting them, as long as you work hard to improve yourself."

"Yeah, I know…" Ichigo replied in understanding, his eyes lighting up with a fiery resolve once more.

"Oh, and by the way Ichigo, I won't allow you to use brute strength when wielding me, okay?" Sayafushi held a sweet smile, but Ichigo knew for a fact that he'd be in serious trouble if he didn't do what she said.

"So what are we going to be doing today?" Ichigo asked curiously, deciding to change topic.

"Today we shall be focusing on your Reiatsu control, awareness and if you managed to finish the exercises I give you for those two, a few low level Bakudō and Hadō spells," The ivory coloured Zanpakutō listed off. Seeing Ichigo flinch slightly at the mention of Reiatsu control, Sayafushi could only sigh. "Ichigo, if your Reiatsu is left unchecked you could possibly turn this entire country into spiritually aware beings,"

"What, how?!" Ichigo gaped, not having known about this disastrous side effect.

"The giant never-ending flow of Reiatsu you emit is slowly turning other people around you into spiritually aware humans, just think of it like it's radiation," Sayafushi explained.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Ichigo conceded, his shoulder's sagging in defeat. "I definitely don't want anyone I know getting involved with the Soul Society or getting attacked by Hollows, so I'll try my best,"

"Good," Sayafushi simply stated as a small white sofa appeared next to her, she took a seat and began speaking once more. "Now, I want you to take the same position you do when you're performing Jinzen, just like how I showed you earlier," She instructed.

Ichigo did as he was instructed, taking the meditative pose on the crystal building they were on.

"Next, I want you to imagine a small bubble, one about the size of…Hmm, a Melon," She motioned the size with her hands in the air. Ichigo simply nodded and began focusing. "Now I want you to locate the source of your Reiatsu, once you've done that, tell me,"

Ichigo muted out all external noises, trying to sift through the enormous sea that was his Reiatsu. _"This is way harder than it sounds,"_ Ichigo thought to himself, a few beads of sweat appearing on his face. After about thirty minutes of searching, Ichigo finally managed to locate the source of his Reiatsu.

"Alright, what next?" Ichigo was panting heavily and sweat was dripping from his chin, clearly exhausted from the mentally strenuous task.

"Next, I want you to put all of that Reiatsu into that bubble you imagined before," Sayafushi simply explained, fixing her position in her seat as she did.

"All of it, into that tiny bubble?!" Ichigo gaped in utter horror. "How am I supposed to do that?!"

"I can't give you all the answers now can I Ichigo," She replied, getting up from her seated position and moving towards Ichigo. "But I can give you a hint, Instead of pouring the Reiatsu into the bubble why not put the bubble around your Reiatsu?" Sayafushi explained cryptically, tracing a small circle at the centre of Ichigo's chest causing Ichigo to blush at the contact.

Ichigo grunted and focused his mind once more. He imagined a bubble and located the source of his Reiatsu once again. Ichigo noted he found it a lot quicker, near instantly this time.

Heeding Sayafushi's words, Ichigo imagined a bubble around the epicentre of his Reiatsu, but as soon as he did, it instantly burst causing his eyes to snap out in recoil.

" _What the hell happened there?"_ Ichigo thought to himself. Ichigo tried once more to form a bubble around the source of his Reiatsu, but once again the exact same thing happened. _"Okay, I'm definitely doing something wrong, but what? Every time I create a bubble around the point where my Reiatsu is created, it fills up way to quickly and I can't be keep the expansion rate of the bubble up."_ Ichigo paused for a moment, thinking over what he could be doing wrong, he then thought back to Sayafushi's words.

" _Instead of pouring your Reiatsu into the bubble, why not put the bubble around your Reiatsu?"_ Ichigo repeated inside his head. _"What could she have meant by that…Wait…I think I got it!"_

Ichigo tried once more but this time, instead of imagining a bubble, he used his entire body as the bubble itself. He had to grasp out at the Reiatsu that was overflowing from his body and guide it back into himself, consciously making sure that none of it leaked out. This was a lot harder than it seemed, he had to differentiate his own Reiatsu from Sayafushi's, carefully separating his from hers.

After about an hour or so, ichigo had finally managed to draw nearly all of his Reiatsu back inside his body, there was a tiny bit leaking out, but Ichigo knew with some more hard work, he would be able to completely hide his presence.

"Well done Ichigo, it seems like you understand what I meant," Sayafushi praised, a proud smile gracing her lips.

"Yeah, instead of using a mental imagine of a bubble to contain my Reiatsu, I just had to use my body as the bubble instead," Ichigo reiterated, wiping the sweat of his brow.

"I knew you could do it," Sayafushi praised once more in a pleased tone, causing Ichigo to smile a little in satisfaction.

"Okay, so what's next, Reiatsu awareness?" Ichigo questioned, getting up from his seated position.

"Well I would say yes, but you have already managed to do it," The white clad Zanpakutō simply answered.

"Huh?" Was ichigo's intelligent response.

"When you were trying to draw your Reiatsu back into your body you had to consciously feel for it didn't you?" She explained. Ichigo simply nodded in response. "So from now I want you to spend as much time as you can consciously feeling other people's Reiatsu signatures, this will help you improve your own control of your Reiatsu and your awareness at the same time."

"Okay, got it,"

"Now, onto the fun part, Bakudō and Hadō," Sayafushi smiled when Ichigo seemed to perk up at the mention of that. "You're just like a child," She laughed softly, whilst using her Kimono sleeves to cover her mouth.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Ichigo asked, his face having already gone bright red.

"Oh nothing really," She replied with a knowing smile. Ichigo just grumbled something about stupid Zanpakutōs in response.

"Anyway, what am I going to learn first, Hadō or Bakudō?" Ichigo asked trying to get back on topic.

"Bakudō of course," Sayafushi simply answered.

"Isn't Bakudō a lot harder than Hadō, for someone like me?" Ichigo gulped.

"It is, and that is precisely why we are doing it first," She explained.

"I don't get it, how does starting of harder help me in this situation?" The Substitute Shinigami asked confusedly.

"If you start of learning the more intricate and more Reiatsu control demanding Bakudō spells, Hadō will become extremely easy for you to do," Ichigo could only nod at her logic, it's not like she was going to take no for an answer anyway. "We shall be starting off with the simplest of all Bakudō spells, **Bakudō No Ichi: Sai**."

"How do I do it?" Ichigo remembered back to the time when he had first met Rukia, how she had used this exact same Bakudō to bind his arms behind his back.

"Just guide your Reiryōku through to your finger tips and say the Bakudō's name," She simply explained motioning to her own hand as she did.

Not wanting to waste anytime Ichigo immediately funnel his Reiryōku into his fingertips, he then felt a slight tingling sensation indicating he had the sufficient amount of Reiatsu to perform the spell.

" **Bakudō No Ichi: Sai!"** Ichigo yelled. Almost instantly Sayafushi's arms snapped behind her back and become utterly useless.

"Well done Ichigo, you managed to cast it on the first try, it may be the lowest level Bakudō, but for someone who has just started training in Reiatsu control, it's the quite the feat," Sayafushi praised. Ichigo could only blush slightly in response.

"Nah, it was just dumb luck," Ichigo responded, scratching the back of his head as he did.

"Okay, let's move onto a slightly harder Bakudō shall we?" Sayafushi stated, clasping her hands together, having already broken out of Ichigo's Bakudō with ease. Ichigo simply nodded his head, letting Sayafushi continue. **"Bakudō No Yōn: Hainawa."** Sayafushi demonstrated the use of the spell as she elegantly brought her hand up, pointing a finger at Ichigo, before firing the spell directly at him.

A smooth yellow rope shot its way towards the teen, rapping tightly around his arms, completely voiding his upper body movement. "So, I'm guessing Hainawa is just an enhanced version of Sai?" Ichigo questioned, struggling to break out of the yellow bindings.

"Yes, Sai restricts just the movement of the arms with force, but Hainawa, creates a physical construct which is considerably sturdier, though it doesn't stop the flow of Reiatsu that normally comes out of a Shinigami's wrists, therefore it can be overpowered within enough exertion from bounded individuals Reiatsu." Sayafushi explained in detail.

"Does this method work with most Bakudō?" Ichigo asked, curious to know just in case he got caught in one himself.

"Most of them yes, but some require massive amounts of physical and spiritual effort to break, such as **Bakudō No Rōkujuusan: Sajō Sabaku** and one of the forbidden Bakudō known as **Bakudō Kyujuukyu: Bankin,"** She explained, happy that Ichigo was getting involved and asking questions.

Ichigo then exerted as much Reiatsu as he could trying to test if it worked, instantly the golden ropes that had ensnared his arms disintegrated into invisible spirit particles."I'll definitely have to keep that in mind," Ichigo said, rubbing the soreness out of his wrists as he did.

* * *

Ichigo then spent the rest of the day practicing his Bakudō under Sayafushi's tutelage, he had gotten down quite a few low level spells down without a hitch, but once it came to Bakudō of the forties number, Ichigo started to struggle. He mainly had trouble with **Bakudō No Yonjuuyon: Sekishō.**

With his current lacklustre control of Reiatsu, Ichigo found it difficult to form the barrier-like Bakudō. Though when he was able to maintain the barrier, it didn't last too long, shattering instantly on contact.

Sayafushi assured him that with time, practice and patience, he would be able to pull it off effortlessly. Ichigo took her words to heart and kept at it until he had become too exhausted to even move.

"You did really well today Ichigo, I'm really proud of you," Sayafushi praised stroking his hair gently, his head resting on her lap. "I don't think any Shinigami has ever learnt forty-four Bakudō spells in one day,"

"Well, they didn't have an awesome teacher like I have now did they?" Ichigo replied, smirking slightly. Sayafushi simply smiled at the praise he showered her with.

"Since you've worked so hard today, tomorrow, I'll let you rest for the day," Ichigo nodded and then he blinked, suddenly realizing something.

"Sayafushi, can you tell what time it is right now?" Ichigo asked suddenly.

"Hmm, I think it's about ten o' clock or so," She answered having quickly checked through Ichigo's material body's eyes. Ichigo gaped at that.

"Damn! I haven't told Dad about what I was planning to do today, Yuzu and Karin are probably really worried," Ichigo cursed out loud, bolting up to an upright position. "I need to go and check on them," With that Ichigo dissipated out of his Inner World.

Ichigo's eyes snapped out, accommodating themselves once more to the sight of the material world. Ichigo noted he was feeling extremely hungry. _"I guess doing none stop training will make any guy hungry…"_ Ichigo grumbled pushing the cries of his stomach to the back of his mind.

Instantly Ichigo could sense exactly where everyone in the house was, he could even sense a few people walking by outside. It was a rather weird sensation, going from being able to barely sense something two metres in front of him to being able to perfectly focus and hone in on people on the other side of the street from his room.

Ichigo climbed down the flight of stairs and made his way to the living room where his father was watching some T.V.

"You know, Yuzu and Karin were pretty worried about you, it took a whole lot of convincing to tell them you were alright," Came Isshin's voice, who simply kept watching T.V without turning around. "Yuzu more so then Karin."

"I figured as much…" Ichigo replied, running a hand through his hair whilst sighing. "I'm guessing they've already gone to bed?"

"Yeah," Was his father's simple reply. A moment of awkward silence encompassed them both.

"Look, I'm sorry ok? I just forgot to tell you guys what I'd be doing today," Ichigo explained, noticing his father was acting serious for a change. Isshin got up and made his way towards his son, a stern looking plastered on his face.

"Ichigo my boy, you don't have to tell your old man everything you do anymore, you're not a kid, you're a grown man, and I know that more than anyone." Isshin stated placing a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "Just make sure not to overdo it ok?"

"Yeah, yeah I get it," Ichigo replied with a faux annoyed look, but in actuality he was happy he had, had this little heart to heart with his dad, it was quite refreshing.

"And Ichigo, remember…TOO MUCH MASTURBATION WILL MAKE YOU GO BLIND!" He roared, pumping his fists into the air as he did.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU CRAZY, PERVERTED OLD FART!" Ichigo began pummelling his father into the living room floor, relentlessly beating him to a bloody pulp.

After ichigo had beaten his dad to the brink of death, Ichigo quickly ate some food and made his way back upstairs to check on his two sisters. He silently tip-toed to each of their rooms, peering through the door as he did.

" _They both seem alright, I'll have to apologize to them tomorrow,"_ Ichigo thought to himself, still feeling rather guilty.

Ichigo quietly slipped back into his room and made his way towards his bed, getting ready for a good night's rest. _"Today was absolutely hectic, who knew learning Reiatsu control, manipulation and Kidō would be so challenging,"_ Ichigo groaned out mentally as he slipped into the comforting embrace of his duvet covers.

"Remember Ichigo, you shall soon have to learn my techniques as well," Sayafushi reminded him form the confines of his Inner World.

" _Damn, I almost forgot about that," Ichigo remembered. "Sayafushi I thought you were a pure melee type Zanpakutō,"_ Ichigo questioned through their mental link.

"Though I am considered that, I have quite the arsenal of potent short, medium and long ranged techniques," She answered with a hint of pride.

" _So how about, instead of me taking tomorrow off, I start learning those techniques of yours?"_ Ichigo suggested, rolling over to the cold side of his bed.

"Are you sure Ichigo? I wouldn't want you to overwork yourself," She responded with a worried tone.

" _It's fine Saya, I've had a lot harder training in the past,"_ Ichigo simply stated.

"Oh? It sounds like you're saying my training is too easy for you," The white Zanpakutō quipped making Ichigo gulp out of fear. "Maybe I should make it more challenging?" Her tone was sweet, a little _too_ sweet for Ichigo's liking.

" _No I didn't mean it like that! I swear!"_ Ichigo yelled out, fearing for his life. Sayafushi simply laughed lightly at his expense causing Ichigo to grumble something unintelligible in response, finally realizing she had been joking.

* * *

Ichigo spent the next day training away once more, Sayafushi had taught him a few more Bakudō spells and had told him that they would be soon moving onto Hadō, but only once he had fully mastered a single Bakudō and could utilize it without an incantation

Currently what Ichigo could manage was the most bare bones structure of a Bakudō, one that would buy him a few seconds in actual combat. He needed a lot more training to be able to properly seal people for extended periods of time.

The Substitute Shinigami had also been sparring with Sayafushi, she had insisted he learn how to wield her properly. Though they did have to use materialized Bōkkens to spar, otherwise they would run this risk of slicing each other to bits.

The style Sayafushi was teaching him seemed extremely bizarre to Ichigo. It fully focused on fluid motions that quickly transitioned themselves into the next. Each movement he was taught was very situational.

Ichigo, having been a fighter who solely relied on instinct, brute force and speed, had found it very uncomfortable at first, but he was slowly picking things up bit by bit the more they sparred.

Sayafushi had explained to him that she could only give him the ground works for his fighting style, he would have to make it his own through constant practice and proper combat.

* * *

"I~chi~ go~!" Came the enthusiastic, over the top cry of Keigo as he ran down the hall way of Karakura High.

"Get lost Keigo, I don't feel like putting up with you today," Ichigo sidestepped the brown haired boy, letting him to crash into the wall behind him.

"Mizuro, Ichigo's being really cold with me! What should I do?!" Keigo cried, turning to the black haired boy who was his supposed friend.

"Isn't that how everyone treats you?" He simply replied, heading towards his own classroom, completely blanking him.

"Yo," Ichigo greeted his three spiritually aware friends.

"Morning."

"Good morning Kurosaki-kun!"

"Kurosaki, I noticed I could barely sense any Reiatsu emanating from you, is this due to the fact you no longer possess a Zanpakutō?" Uryu bluntly asked, not wanting to waste time with idle chatter.

"Oh? The mighty "Last Quincy" can't detect my Reiatsu? Isn't this a surprise," Ichigo mocked with a wide grin, causing Uryu to simply push his glasses up and walk away highly annoyed. "I think I offended him somehow." Ichigo snickered through his teeth.

Orihime and Chad simply sweat dropped at the rivals' antics, knowing this was how they usually treated each other.

"What's this?! Beauty, Beast and the glasses?! Then did this combo happen?! Keigo cried, feeling completely left out.

Ichigo sat down in his usual seat, completely ignoring Keigo's antics, instead he began drowning out all the sound in his classroom, closing his eyes and tightening his focus. Ichigo began slowly using his Reiatsu to feel his way through the classroom, identifying each individual.

Sayafushi had taught him this little exercise, saying it would help him gain far better control over his Reiatsu whilst improving his sensory capabilities.

Suddenly, a ginormous pressure washed over the entirety of Karakura. Ichigo having been in a state of complete focus, physically recoiled at its presence.

The orange haired teen quickly looked over to his spiritually aware comrades, noting each one of them had noticed the influx of unknown Reiatsu.

"Sensei, I'm going to go to the bathroom!" Ichigo didn't even give his teacher chance to respond as he dashed straight out the door without looking back. He quickly took out Kon's soul pill, before throwing it into his mouth.

"Kon, I need you to go home, and stay there, this is serious, got it?" Ichigo's tone left no room for argument, Kon nodded before he dashed off to the Kurosaki residence using his enhanced leg strength.

Without even focusing, Ichigo was immediately able to tell exactly where the Reiatsu signature was emanating from. _"The park?"_ Ichigo questioned, leaping from building to building. He soon noticed two white clad figures standing near the centre of the Karakura Town Park.

Without wasting anytime, Ichigo gripped Sayafushi's sealed forme tightly in his hand and Shunpō'd down to a spot just a few feet in front of them.

"Yo, is this the guy, Ulquiorra?"

"Yes, It seems he's done us the favour of coming directly to us," Ulquiorra Cipher replied evenly, causing Yammy to let out a toothy grin.

"Who the hell are you guys?" Ichigo questioned, fixing his stance.

"We're Espada, Aizen-sama's most elite group of Arrancar," Ulquiorra answered stoically, analysing Ichigo.

"Yeah, we're also here to kick your ass!" Yammy declared as he charged forward, his arm already flying forward ready to pulverize anything in its way.

"Hah! Keep dreamin' ugly!" Ichigo shot back easily back flipping away from the giant's fist.

"Quit squirming around, you fuckin' ant!" Yammy roared, he then soon noticed something very wrong. His entire left arm was missing. Yammy let out a bellowing roar of pain, falling to a knee as he did. "You little shit! I'll fuckin' murder you!" The ogre like Arrancar stood back up and began his reckless assault once more.

Ichigo fluidly dodged every attack that came his way, weaving in and out of the giant's sloppy punches, infuriating Yammy even further.

The tan skinned Hollow began charging a Cero in between his jaws, trying to kill Ichigo with sheer destructive force. "Die!" Yammy roared, unleashing the crimson attack.

Ichigo simply Shunpō'd out the way. Not letting his opponent recover, Ichigo channelled some Reiryōku to the tips of his fingers before chanting-

" **Bakudō No Yōn: Hainawa!"** The static like yellow ropes stopped the hulking Arrancar in his tracks, giving Ichigo enough time to stab him cleanly in the gut.

"You fuckin' Ant!" Yammy roared, using Sonidō to get to a safe distance. "Now you've done it! I'm really fuckin' pissed now!" Yammy began reaching for his Zanpakutō but before he could he was violently punched in the stomach curtesy of Ulquiorra. "W-what the hell are you doin', Ulquiorra?!" Yammy bellowed at the short male man, as he reeled in pain.

"Unless you have a death wish, you shall back off here, Yammy," Ulquiorra simply stated. This enraged Yammy even further.

"Why the hell should I back off from this shitty orange bastard?!" Yammy angrily snapped back.

"If you ever bothered to gauge your opponent's strength, you'd have seen how he clearly outclasses you, he hasn't even released his Shikai yet," Ulquiorra chided, clearly annoyed at Yammy's incompetence. "It seems that you are far stronger then Aizen-sama mentioned in the briefing, I will have to assess you myself." Ulquiorra stated, turning his attention back to the Substitute Shinigami.

Before Ichigo could respond to the green-eyed Arrancar, he felt a cold hand connect with his back, instantly sending him rocketing through the empty park. _"What the hell, he's so fast!"_ Ichigo cursed mentally, righting himself in mid-air before digging his feet into the ground to dissipate his momentum. _"Seems like I'm going to have to step it up against this guy,"_

" **Sever the Heavens, Sayafushi!"** Ichigo proclaimed, raising his Zanpakutō as he did, allowing Sayafushi to take on the trademark characteristics of her Shikai.

"I do not believe that was what Aizen described your Zanpakutō as, it even has a different name, how strange," The paled Arrancar commented, slightly intrigued by what he had just seen.

Ichigo didn't reply, he simply changed his posture, preparing himself for any attack.

Ulquiorra noticing that Ichigo wasn't taking any offensive means, deciding to initiate the confrontation himself. Using Sonidō, Ulquiorra appeared behind Ichigo once more, ready to beat him down like he had just done. This time, Ichigo was completely ready, he spun around on his heel, sword in hand ready to cut off the top half of Ulquiorra's body.

The black haired Arrancar brought his hand up to deflect an attack which should have bounced off harmlessly due to his incredibly sturdy Hierro. But to his mild shock, the obsidian blade sliced right through his hand as if it weren't even there.

Before Ulquiorra lost anymore body parts, he quickly smashed his heel into Ichigo's gut, sending him flying across the grass once more.

"How peculiar, you managed to slice right through my Hierro, even though my Reiatsu is significantly higher of level than yours," Ulquiorra examined the injury he had just sustained and with a quick application of Reiatsu, his hand regenerated within seconds. "But if this is all you're capable of, then you're of no concern to Aizen-sama," He finished, flexing his new hand as he did.

"Oh yeah? I guess I'll have to start getting serious!" Ichigo yelled, getting up from where he had landed, slightly out of breath. He charged straight at Ulquiorra, bringing Sayafushi up with both arms he slashed vertically downwards, wanting to slice Ulquiorra right down the middle.

"Such simple movements," Was all Ulquiorra said before blasting off to the right in a static boom of Sonidō. Whilst still moving, Ulquiorra lifted his pale index finger, aiming it carefully at Ichigo, before uttering-

" **Cero"**

A colossal wave of green erupted from Ulquiorra's finger, relentlessly making its way towards Ichigo.

Immediately panicking, Ichigo was about to try and dodge the oncoming attack but stopped when he heard Sayafushi's voice.

"Ichigo, do not run! A simple attack like this should be easy for you to deal with," Sayafushi chided from within his Inner World.

" _Yeah, you're right!"_ Ichigo suddenly realized how to deal with such an attack. He could feel his soul screaming it out to him, as if berating him for not using it earlier.

Ichigo readied himself, steeling his body and mind to take on the onslaught of green energy. He then uttered…

" **Getsuga Tenshō!"**

A bright, super condensed, thin streak of blue effortlessly cleaved through Ulquiorra's Cero, dispersing the energy back into the atmosphere as it did. What was most astonishing about the attack was that it didn't stop there, it continued to race towards Ulquiorra, silently slicing through everything that got in its way.

Ulquiorra, though being surprised that a mere Human could defeat his Cero so easily, casually stepped aside, letting the Getsuga glide past him, allowing it violently explode behind him.

"It seems I have a lot to report to Aizen-sama when I get back to Huecō Mundō," Ulquiorra stated, making a mental note to himself.

"Do you think I'll just let you got?!" Ichigo roared, readying himself to charge once more.

"You don't have a choice in the matter, Kurosaki Ichigo," He simply replied, appearing in front of the Substitute, a finger pointing mere centimetres away from his chest, encompassed in the green light of another Cero.

"Shit!" Ichigo cursed aloud, he was about to Shunpō out of the way, but his eyes widened in horror as his entire body suddenly went numb. Before Ichigo could realize what had happened, the tidal wave of green washed over him, blasting him off into the forest-like area of the park.

" _Just because I don't accept you, you're going to get in my way? Asshole…"_ Ichigo seethed, trying to ignore the searing pain that ravaged his entire body. The orange haired teen's entire body had taken on severe amounts of burns, though he was able to sponge most of the attack by instinctively hardening his Reiatsu around his skin, it still had taken its toll on him.

"So, this is all you're capable of, Kurosaki Ichigo? This farce was quite the let-down indeed," Ulquiorra announcement coldly, having already made it in front of Ichigo. "I suppose I should put you out of your misery, before you can embarrass yourself even further."

Ulquiorra raised his index finger once more and began charging a Cero once more, before letting it loose upon the defeated Substitute Shinigami. Ulquiorra simply waited for his Cero to rip through the landscape, but to his surprised, it simply got re-directed into the sky.

"My, my, I hope we aren't late to the party?" Came a familiar cheery voice.

"Urahara-Kisuke I presume?" Ulquiorra identified, unfazed by his sudden appearance.

"The one and only!" The green clad man cheered bringing his Zanpakutō Benihime up, before uttering. **"Nake, Benihime!"** A blood red streak rocketed its way towards the short Arrancar who casually brought his hand up and batted the attack away without any effort. "My, we have a strong one over here," Kisuke compliment, adjusting his hat as he did.

"Yammy, we have no further business, we're leaving," Ulquiorra ordered, but was surprised when there was no response.

"Oh, my bad, was this guy with you?" Came the mischievous voice of Yōruichi Shihōin, who was simply sitting atop a defeated Yammy. "He was so weak, it felt like he was some random stray Hollow."

"That is to be expected, he is the weakest among us Espada, though I highly doubt you could defeat him in his Reserrección," He idly replied, casually walking towards Yōruichi as he did.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Came the distraught cry of Orihime as she ran up to the bleeding body of Ichigo, finally having caught up to him after noticing his Reiatsu had been fluctuating wildly. She quickly created a bubble around him and began healing him as fast as she could.

" _What an interesting power,"_ Ulquiorra mentally commented, observing the girl closely. _"Though her Reiatsu levels indicate she is barely stronger than the average human trash."_ He coldly analysed. He was about to rip her head off her shoulders, but was stopped in his tracks by an incoming presence.

"You know, it's not very polite to turn your back on your opponent like that," Ulquiorra felt the cold steel of Benihime press against the back of his neck, though it didn't pierce his flesh thanks to his high level Hierro. **"Nake, Benihime!"** Kisuke let loose a point blank wave of red with the intention of severing Ulquiorra's head, but to his dismay Ulquiorra came out of the smoke unharmed, only his clothes taking some minor damage.

Quickly seizing the moment, Yōruichi pounced into the fray, sending a flurry of devastating punches at the black haired Espada, who simply Sōnidō'd away to where Yammy was still lying.

" **El Directo!"** Chad's voice boomed as he charged recklessly at Ulquiorra, his signature attack surging forth from his black armoured arm.

"It seems like more and more trash keep appearing, I have no time for this," Ulquiorra sounding almost annoyed. He simply fired a Bala, which sailed right through Chad's attack without resistance and blasted his arm to smithereens.

Once he had finished disposing of Chad, Ulquiorra snapped his fingers, allowing a Garganta to burst forth into existence. He quickly threw Yammy inside it and began to make his leave.

"You runnin' away?" Yōruichi jabbed provokingly, though she didn't make chase.

"Such a simpleminded taunt, I'm sure you're fully aware of the consequences of fighting me whilst protecting such trash," Ulquiorra coldly rebuked, letting the teeth of the Garganta snap shut but not before sparing a disappointed glance at Ichigo.

"Yōruichi-san, we need to get Chad and Ichigo to safety, especially Chad, he's bleeding extensively," Urahara quickly instructed. Yōruichi nodded before heading back to Kisuke's shop whilst carrying the three teens.

* * *

"Wasn't that a crazy show, eh' Aizen-taichō?" Gin spoke in his usual sarcastic manner.

"I would have to agree, never would I have thought he would gain a new Zanpakutō after I had unintentionally broken his old one," Aizen responded, his gaze still fixed onto his holographic monitor.

"Hmm, I wonder why his Zangetsu broke so easily, do ya' have any ideas, taichō?" Gin's smile grew a little in anticipation of his captain's response.

"Maybe I do know. Why, are you curious, Gin?" Replied, turning to face his lieutenant with a knowing smile.

"Of course," Gin simply replied back, but to his disappointment Aizen simply chuckled mysteriously before heading to his throne room. "Aw' don't be like that Captain! You always do this!" Gin wined, voicing his displeasure.

" _You keep getting more and more interesting, Kurosaki Ichigo."_

* * *

 **Did I say two weeks? I meant four days.**

 **I greatly overestimated how long it would take to write this chapter it seems.**

 **I've got already got chapter three planned out in my head, so it shouldn't take too long to write, hopefully...**

 **EDIT: I just uploaded a quick sketch of Sayafushi. I drew it for you guys, so you'd all know what she looks like, the link of it is on my profile if anyone is interested.**

 **WeirdoKen.**


	3. Restless Cover

" _How many times had I ended up like this? I can't even keep track anymore…"_ Ichigo stared at the ceiling of Kisuke Urahara's store, lamenting his utter defeat at the hands of Ulquiorra. _"Instead of facing my Hollow, I ran away from it like a coward and thanks to my cowardice, I couldn't even protect Chad or Orihime."_

Ichigo new exactly why he didn't want to face it, If he lost, It was all over, he'd become a Hollow and that's that. His Inner Hollow would go on a rampage, killing and consuming everything in sight. The price of losing outweighed the reward of winning. _"Damnit!"_ Ichigo mentally cursed once more.

There was another reason. One which Ichigo tried to deny more than anything. It was fear. The fear of being consumed, the fear of losing oneself to insanity and the fear of giving into his destructive desires.

After calming himself down and shoving the morbid thoughts to the back of his mind, Ichigo got up from the futon he was lying in and made his way to where he could sense Kisuke. _"He seems to be in the underground training area, I wonder why?"_ Ichigo pushed the question to the back of his mind and climbed down the ladder that led to the fake environment of the training grounds.

To his surprise he saw Chad and Orihime sparring each other, both trying their best to get the upper hand. Just a few meters away Yoruichi and Kisuke were both watching intently.

"What's going on Urahara-san?" Ichigo voiced, making his way up to the pair.

"Why, they're training of course!" Kisuke jovially cheered, to which Ichigo silently nodded. It was understandable, after their first encounter with the Arrancar, they were severely lacking fighting power against them, after all, they got completely decimated.

"How long was I out for?" Ichigo asked, still watching his two friends fighting.

"Two days," Was Kisuke's simple reply.

"I see," Ichigo paused for a moment, as if contemplating what to do.

"Kurosaki-san, I'm guessing your Inner Hollow managed to impede your battle with the Arrancar?" Ichigo's eyes darted straight towards the bucket hat wearing shop keeper.

"How did you know?" Ichigo asked, a tone filled with a mixture of confusion and shock.

"It's because I created the beings that are a hybrid between Shinigami and Hollows," Kisuke confessed, his eyes darkening considerably as he did. "I could tell by the way your Reiatsu was wildly fluctuating."

"So I really am part Hollow…" Kisuke was surprised, he had anticipated Ichigo to lash out in shock, and he wasn't expecting this sort of reaction at all. "Urahara-san, I need to ask a favour of you."

"What is it?" The shopkeeper replied, slightly curious as to what this certain favour could be.

"These Hollow and Shinigami hybrids, are they still around?" Ichigo questioned.

"Yes, I sometimes contact them to ask how they're doing and ask for an odd favour or two, why do you ask?"

"Can you tell me where they are? I need to go and see them as soon as possible," Kisuke understood the reasoning behind Ichigo's urgency, he wanted to deal with his Inner Hollow as quickly as he could, before it got out of hand.

"Of course I can Kurosaki-san, they were planning on meeting you in a couple of days, if I'm not mistaken," Kisuke explained .

"Well, unfortunately, I don't have that long to wait," Ichigo answered grimly, to which the shop keeper silently nodded too.

"Alright then, I'll tell you where they are," And with that, Kisuke gave Ichigo a map of the location where these Hollowfied Shinigami were hiding out at, or otherwise known as Vizards. He had also briefly explained the history behind the Vizards and how they came to be..

As soon as Ichigo received the map, he dashed out the shop in his Shinigami form and quickly make made his way to the warehouse they were situated in. Kisuke had told him they had an extremely powerful Kidō user who had set up an incredibly dtrongpowerful and undetectable barrier around their hideout, so he had to make sure they could feel his presence.

After a few minutes of using Shunpō, Ichigo had made it to the location of the large, abandoned building. Immediately he had noticed a humungous orange barrier that stretched around the entire warehouse.

Ichigo contemplated his next course of action for a moment. _"I need to draw their attention somehow…Ah, I got it, this should get their attention."_

Ichigo took a deep breath, steadying himself. He then let the mental barrier on all his Reiatsu loose all at once, causing the environment around him to violently shake in response. He waited a few moments to see if there was any reaction.

"Oi, oi! You coulda' bloody rang the doorbell!" Came an annoyed voice from what seemed to be a late teenage man with medium length straight cut hair in casual clothes.

"Hirakō Shinji I assume?" Ichigo asked, turning to face the man who was making his way out of the orange barrier.

"That's me, and I'm guessin' you're Kurosaki Ichigo?" Ichigo nodded in affirmation. "So what business do ya' have with me kid?" He asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb Hirakō, I know about your little plan of trying to recruit me, Kisuke explained it all," Ichigo shot down the innocent façade Shinji had tried to put up. To this Shinji merely grinned and pulled down his hat just a little.

"So ya' Hollow's getting' to ya' too fast for ya' to handle eh'?" Shinji smirked as he saw Ichigo furrow his brow deeper.

"I need your help," Ichigo asked, swallowing his pride.

"All we can do is set you up for a fight with your Hollow, that's all, you know that right?" Shinji explained gauging Ichigo's initial reaction.

"Yeah, that's more than enough for me," Ichigo responded back evenly.

"Alrighty then kiddo, follow me," The blonde haired man motioned Ichigo to follow him, leading them into the supposedly abandoned warehouse. Once the two had entered Ichigo noticed seven people going about what seemed to be their usual hobbies. "Okay then, might as well introduce ya'ou to everyone, since ya' gonna be here for a bit."

"The guy with the afro over there is Love, goldilocks is the guy playing the violin, his name , his name is Rose, Pervert-skirt sitting over there reading eroge is Lisa, Hachi is in that corner meditating and muscles-for-brains Kensei is working out down in the training grounds with jumpsuit girl Mashirō." Ichigo sweat dropped at the nicknames Shinji had given everyone. The only one who seemed to have taken offense was Lisa, she yelled back something about eroge being art when Shinji had introduced her.

"Oi! Why the hell didn't you introduce me! You asshole!" Yelled a small blonde haired girl with pigtails.

"Oh, my bad, this here is our pet monkey, Hyōri, say hello Hyi-"That was the last word he was able to speak before a sandal was jammed down his throat.

"Are they always like this?" Ichigo asked, not knowing what to do.

"Yeah, those two try and kill each other every five seconds, Shinji with words and Hyōri with violence." Came the deep voice of Love, who had finished his Manga and was making his way over to Ichigo.

"I see…" The scene eerily reminded him of all the times he and Rukia would fight, seeing it from a third person perspective made Ichigo feel rather awkward.

"So I'm guessing the reason why you're here is because that Hollow or yours is giving you too much trouble?" Love started, easily knowing why the orange haired teen was here.

"Yeah," Ichigo confirmed to the older man. "I hate to ask other people for help, but I don't know what to do…" Ichigo gritted his teeth in frustration to which Love simply smile and put a reassuring hand on Ichigo's shoulder.

"Don't worry, we Vizards know what it's like, trust me, that's why we're gonna help you out," This reassured Ichigo greatly, but he still had a sinking feel in the pit of his stomach. He felt something very off about himself, he just couldn't put a finger on it.

Ichigo decided to shove the feeling down to the back of his mind and focus at the task at hand. Eliminate his Hollow.

"So now that all this mushy introduction crap is out the way, why don't we get down to business?" Ichigo couldn't even respond to Hyōri, because she had already crossed the distance between them, Zanpakutō in hand, ready to cleave Ichigo's head off.

Ichigo mentally cursed and bent his knees ninety degrees backwards, trying his best not to get decapitated. To his horror, by the time he had dodged the attack, Hyōri's blade was already sailing downwards in an attempt to split him in two.

Ichigo quickly whispered Shō under his breath. Pointing his index finger of on an angle to the side of him, he let the spell lose, allowing his body to be propelled off to the side, away from immediate danger.

"Ichigo, what it looks like to me is," Hyōri began, dislodging her Zanpakutō from the ground. "That you're piss scared of that Hollow of yours, aren't cha'?" Ichigo could only grit his teeth in response, this caused the small Vizard to sigh disappointedly.

She began walking towards Ichigo, pointing her sword at him as she did." Use ya' Bankai," Ichigo stood his ground, Sayafushi in his hand, still in her sealed state, ready to be used at any time. "So you're gonna be stubborn, huh?" Ichigo noticed Hyōri's Reiatsu getting more and more violent and dense by the second.

"I won't say it again, go Ba **nkai. Or die,"** Ichigo's eyes widened considerably when Hyōri had suddenly appeared in front of him, Hollow mask adorned and Zanpakutō mere inches away from his throat.

"Shit!" Ichigo cursed vehemently, Shunpōing as far back as he could, but to no avail as Hyōri kept up her relentless assault. Each time Ichigo would stop his Shunpō he had gained more and more gashes across his body. _"Damnit! How is she able to retain control of herself after transforming?! There's got to be a reason! I have to watch what she does, that's the reason why I came here after all!"_

" _What a scared bitch. He's even too scared to raise his Reiatsu,"_ The pigtailed Vizard thought behind her patterned mask. _" I'll just put him out of his misery and send him flying to wherever he came from,"_ Before Hyōri could put her plan into motion, she was stopped dead in her tracks as Ichigo's Reiatsu skyrocketed.

An inhumane scream blasted sonic winds in her direction, she nearly flinched when she saw half a Hollow mask slowly crawling its way over Ichigo's face. She was about to ready herself for any attack, but it was already too late.

Before she knew it, she was already pinned on the ground, hand crushing her throat, allowing no air to enter or escape her small body.

"I think she gets the point, Ichigo," Shinji assured, using his Zanpakutō to peel away his still forming mask as the rest of the Vizards pinned Ichigo down with all their combined might. "Ya' satisfied, Hyōri?" Shinji called, looking up to where Hyōri had Shunpō'd too after Ichigo had been detained.

Shinji took her silence and look of terror as a yes and hoisted Ichigo's unconscious body onto his shoulder, before making his way down a flight of stairs that led to their underground training area.

* * *

In the Underground Training Area.

"Alrighty then, Hachi, set up a barrier around his body, and make it strong, oh and seal up all his limbs," Shinji instructed quickly, placing the unconscious boy's body onto the ground in a space clearing.

Hachi nodded with a tired sigh at the instructions his long-time friend and comrade had given him. "Walls of iron sand, a priestly pagoda, glowing ironclad fireflies. Standing upright, silent to the end, **Bakudō No. Nanajuugō: Gōchutekkan!"** The large man yelled, slamming his fist into the ground.

Five giant pillars of steel formed above Ichigo's body, before plummeting down onto each of his limbs and head. "Now for the barrier!" Hachi lifted a single finger up in a swiping like fashion, allowing for a sizable cube shaped to form around Ichigo's still body.

"Now, time to play the waiting game," Shinji stated, lazily leaning on a nearby rock.

* * *

Las Noches.

"Ulquiorra, what do you have to report to all your brothers and sisters today?" Aizen voiced, sitting atop his pearl white throne.

"I have some interesting information regarding the orange haired boy that may be valuable to our cause, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra announced, getting up from his seated position.

"Oh? Do you mind showing us?" Aizen asked politely, resting his face onto the knuckles of his fist.

"Of course not, Aizen-sama," With that, Ulquiorra robotically detached his eyeball from his socket and crushed it between his palm, allowing it to shatter into tiny glass like fragments which circled around the throne room.

The other Arrancar seemed to inhale in the microscopic eyeball shards, along with Aizen and the other two ex-Shinigami Captains.

"I see, this is wonderful information, thank you Ulquiorra," Aizen praised, after a moment of silence.

"I am here to serve, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra bowed deeply, taking his seat once more.

"That will be all for now, you may all head back to your quarters," The brown haired king of Huecō Mundō announced, gesturing his hand whilst he did.

As Ulquiorra was heading back to his chamber, he was suddenly stopped by a teal haired man. "Grimmjow, what do you want?" He asked, monotonously.

"I was just here to tell you something," Ulquiorra didn't bother asking what and simply waited for a reply. "I'm here to tell you, you're a weak ass bitch, why didn't you finish off the orange haired punk when you had the chance?" He questioned.

"Aizen-sama specifically ordered for me to only observed and test his limits, I was not asked to execute him," Ulquiorra explained, not caring that Grimmjow seemed to grow angrier at his response.

"If you care about what Aizen says so much, why don't you fuckin' lick the dirt of his feet like the dog you are?!" Grimmjow retorted, glaring murder at the green eyed man.

"What did you say?" Ulquiorra asked rhetorically to which Grimmjow smirked.

"You heard me Ulquiorra, or are you that scared of me you can't understand what I'm saying?" Grimmjow continued his verbal assault, knowing fully well Ulquiorra wouldn't stand for someone talking bad about Aizen.

"I see, it seems that you don't understand your place, Grimmjow," Ulquiorra took a single step forward. "I shall have to re-educate you," With that, Ulquiorra's Reiatsu skyrocketed to proportions which made Grimmjow fall to both knee, gasping for air. "Remember this, Grimmjow, I am ranked 4th, you are merely ranked 6th, don't get too full of yourself,"

With that, Ulquiorra made his silent leave, not even bothering to spare his blue-haired comrade a single glance.

" _That little shit! I'll fucking kill him one day!"_ Grimmjow roared mentally, wiping the cold sweat of his brow before getting to get to his feet. _"But first, I'll make sure to slaughter that Shinigami,"_

* * *

Vizard Training Ground.

So, who's going keep his Hollowfied body busy first?" Mashirō chirped, breaking the silence.

"Since I'm on duty today, I'll head in first," Lisa stated, unsheathing her Zanpakutō.

"Well, don't hold ya' breathe, he seems like he's rearing to go," Shinji warned, spinning his hat on his finger. "Make sure not to kill him," Shinji added, giving her his trade mark grin.

"If I don't die first," Lisa replied grimly, stepping through the gap in the barrier Hachi had just created. Lisa waited until Ichigo's now Hollowfying body broke out of its bindings before getting into a battle ready pose. "I'm Lisa Yadōmarō, nice to meet you," And with that, sparks went flying.

* * *

Ichigo's Inner World.

As soon as ichigo had arrived in the glass city of his Inner World, he instantly checked his sides, checking if his Hollow had already launched an attack at him. Though, to his surprise, he was alone, or so he thought.

"Greetings, your majesty,"

Ichigo instantly spun around on his heel upon hearing a very familiar voice.

"Sayafushi?!" Ichigo questioned confusedly. "What are you doing here, I thought I was supposed to be fighting my Inner Hollow?" Sayafushi didn't answer him, she simply stood there, eyes closed with a light scowl etched into her delicate features.

Ichigo was about to take a step forward, but instantly halted the action when he noticed Sayafushi materializing her Zanpakutō form in her hand. "Sayafushi, what's goi-," Ichigo didn't have time to finish his sentence as multiple strings of silver rocketed towards him at blinding speeds, attempting to sever every limb from his body.

"What the hell?! What are you doing?!" Ichigo yelled at the top of his lungs, Shunpōing away from the lethal blasts of compressed air that came his way. "Sayafushi, I came here to fight my Hollow, not to spar with you!"

The elegant Zanpakutō spirit stopped her assault, then hopped to the building Ichigo had landed on to evade her attacks.

"If you are here to fight your Hollow- "She paused, before slowly opening her eyes. To Ichigo's utter horror, the whites of her eyes were completely black and her once warm yellow eyes, had become a sickly gold, blazing with deathly light.

" **Then why are you not fighting back, my King?".**

* * *

 **I know this is a super short chapter compared to what I usually write, nearly half as short in fact, but I've been super busy and let's not forget, super lazy.**

 **My time went out the window during the Christmas week and the few weeks before that, I was participating in the Blade & Soul Beta, which is fucking amazing by the way.**

 **I'll try and get a chapter out that's at least 5,000-6,000 words + next time, but don't hold your breath about the release day being any time soon.**

 **Oh and as usual constructive criticism is always appreciated, I write stories to improve after all.**

 **Anyway, see ya next time.**

 **WeirdoKen.**


	4. Clash of Converging Emotions

" _I didn't hear her wrong, she definitely implied that she's my Hollow…"_ Ichigo gulped, frozen in shock. _"There's no mistaking it, those eyes, they're the same his,"_ Thunderclouds began to roll in, as Ichigo's Inner World slowly descended into murky darkness, soon to be filled with the sound of heavy rain.

"How?" Was all that Ichigo was able to choke out, his emotions were in a chaotic state and he wasn't able to think clearly.

" **How?"** Sayafushi repeated, tilting her head a little, in an almost mocking fashion.

"How is it that you became my Inner Hollow?!" Ichigo yelled suddenly, clenching his fist, as frustration flooded him. Sayafushi simply closed her eyes for a brief moment before starting to speak.

" **When you're original Zanpakutō, Zangetsu was destroyed, Zangetsu himself wasn't gone, he simply couldn't take a physical form anymore."** Sayafushi began, only for Ichigo to quickly interject.

"What does that have to do with you being my Inner Hollow?"

" **A lot actually,"** She replied coldly, brushing away stray, wet hairs that were blocking her vision. **"Since I melded with both your Hollow and Shinigami powers upon becoming your Zanpakutō, how do you think you managed to use the Getsuga Tenshō?"**

Ichigo contemplated her words for a moment, trying his best not to react badly to the situation and analyse everything calmly. Everything she had stated made sense. It would explain why his Hollow and Zangetsu weren't around. He simply assumed that Zangetsu was gone forever, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"So then. If what you're saying is true, you're the one who interfered with my fight with that Arrancar?" Sayafushi nodded in response. "Why?"

" **Why you ask?"** She repeated emotionlessly, before her face contorted into one of sheer boiling rage. " **Because you threw everything away!"** She screeched, crossing the distance between them, lunging her obsidian blade at Ichigo's neck.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Ichigo yelled back, dodging her strike by a hair's breathe.

" **You insensitive idiot!"** Ichigo luckily evaded losing an arm from an incoming vertical slash. **"After all I did for you, after all I taught you...The moment you stepped into a fight; you threw all that away, you reverted back to fighting like you did before we met!"** She cried, black tears running down her ivory skin. **"You put yourself in so much danger, fighting so recklessly, not caring about your own wellbeing!"** She exclaimed, her voice getting louder and louder with every word. **"You may not care about how much you get hurt in a fight, but I do!"**

" **You even resorted to using a Getsuga to deflect that Cero, even though I had taught you techniques to deal with those types of situations,"** She said with a pained expression. **"Am I not good enough for you Ichigo?"**

The moment those words left her trembling lips, Ichigo's entire Inner World, smashed to smithereens, as it submerged into a cold, black ocean, where the only sources of lights were Ichigo and Sayafushi.

All this time she had been trying her best to make him strong. Strong enough to not get hurt, because she couldn't stand seeing him like that. Ichigo simply let himself fall through the cold water and onto a broken glass building.

" **And worst of all, you became a terrified mess once again! Even though you know better!"** She scolded, her tears still flowing. **"Ichigo, do you not remember what Zangetsu taught you, about fear and what it does to you if you let it control you?"** She reminded him, floating down next to him and looking into his eyes, with her own.

" _Ah,"_ It felt like an eternity since he had remembered that. Ichigo felt like kicking himself for almost forgetting something so important to him, something he held close to his heart.

" **Abandon your fear,"** Sayafushi firmly stated.

"Look forward. Move forward and never stop,"

" **You shall age if you pull back,"**

"And I'll die if I ever hesitate," Ichigo finished, feeling extremely guilty and incompetent. "I really am an idiot, aren't I?" Ichigo chided himself, looking down in shame.

" **Yes, yes you are,"** Sayafushi agreed, crossing her arms and looking away from him with an angry scowl reminiscent to Ichigo's own. There was a short moment of silence.

"Do you think you could ever forgive me, Sayafushi?" Ichigo asked, sitting up, turning to face her. Sayafushi didn't immediately answer him, causing Ichigo to feel even worse than he already was, knowing fully well there was no way she'd be able to forgive him after he had destroyed their bond like that.

Ichigo was completely taken aback when Sayafushi gently wrap wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into her chest. **"Promise me you won't ever do that again,"** Sayafushi sobbed out, squeezing Ichigo's head tighter.

In that very moment, Ichigo's Inner World started to move. The frigid waters began to drain away, whilst the shattered glass skyscrapers slowly started reforming themselves all at once, as if rewinding back in time. Even the thick thunderclouds that were hovering high above began to dissipate, allowing for a star filled night sky to shine through once more.

"I promise."

* * *

Vizard Training Ground.

* * *

"You ok there Lisa?" Shinji asked, glancing to his side, checking up on her. It had been five minutes since Lisa had swapped places with Kensei, she was completely worn out from her battle with the Hollowfied orange haired teen.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a few light injuries," Lisa answered, taking a relaxed, seated position on a nearby boulder, trying to steady her breathing.

"Alright, Kensei, It's my turn," Called Love, walking up to the still intact barrier that Hachi had created, closing the pages of his Manga before pocketing it.

Kensei grunted an affirmative, whilst dodging a lethal clawed attack that aimed to rip out his jugular. "Hachi, open the gate!" The green suited man didn't need to be told twice, he quickly weaved a few hand movements, allowing the barrier to open a door sized hole, which Kensei back stepped through as quickly as he could. "He's all yours Love!"

"Gotcha!" With that, Love leapt into the confinement spell, with his trusty blade in his grip, ready to go.

The moment Ichigo's Hollowfied body noticed Love's appearance, it dashed straight towards him, without delay, claws outstretched, ready to tear him apart limb from limb.

"Woah there!" Love quickly brought his sword up to block an oncoming attack only to have a leg sent sailing towards him. Noticing this, he quickly jumped upwards, before landing on the said leg and swiped his Zanpakutō vertically downwards, only to be whipped back a few feet by a thick lizard like tail.

The lizard-like Hollow pointed its fingers at Love, who was a sizable distance away and it began charging up a dense red sphere, which quickly grew in size.

"Love! That's a Cerō! Get away quickly!" Lisa warned, getting up from her seated position, noticing the highly concentrated ball of death forming rapidly.

" _Oh shit, seems like I gotta' bust out the mask,"_ Love thought, quickly bringing his hand up to his face in a clawed like fashion.

Love instantly halted the gathering of his Hollow Reiatsu once he noticed the Hollowfied teen stop in its tracks, roaring in pain. "What the-?!"

"Hachi! Get Love out of the barrier, now!" Shinji yelled, knowing full well what was about to happen. The pink hair man grunted, quickly flicking through a few hand movements, before a door shaped hole appeared in the barrier, allowing Love to escape without harm.

Hachi then immediately sealed up the door to the orange barrier, before a blinding light emerged from Ichigo's body, causing a colossal shockwave to smash the barrier into pieces.

Once all the smoke had died down, the Vizard were finally able to get a clear look at what had happened.

In the clearing surrounded by broken white fragments, stood Ichigo, donning what seemed to be his very own Hollow mask. It seemed to be a menacing skull shaped white mask, which looked to be almost reflective. It also had a peculiar flower shape design on the left side of it that shimmered a light blue colour.

"How ya' feelin', Ichigo?" Shinji asked, taking a giant leap of the boulder he was sat on, all the way over to where Ichigo was standing.

" **Never better,"** He replied, after several seconds of silence, with the distinctive dual-layered Hollowfied voice.

"That so?" Shinji replied back, smirking all the while.

* * *

Flashback

* * *

"So, what happens now?" Ichigo asked the epicentre of his powers, still in her arms.

"What do you mean, Ichigo?" She replied back.

"Well, I kinda had the intent of mastering my Hollow powers, but since you are my Hollow abilities too, how is this going to work?" He questioned, sliding himself out of her grasp.

"Hmm, this does complicate things…" Sayafushi silently contemplated what to do for a moment. "Ah! I think I have a solution," She began, clasping her hands together.

"What do you have in mind?" Ichigo asked, curiously.

"For now, I'll give you access to as much of your Hollow abilities as your body can handle without causing too much damage to yourself, but after some more training, you can challenge me again for the rest when you feel ready, okay?" She explained, fixing her seated position.

"That's fine with me, thank you, Saya," They shared a silent moment of peace together before Ichigo spoke once again. "I guess I should head back, if I stay unconscious too long, those guys might get worried,"

"It's okay,I understand," She responded, watching as Ichigo dissipating into blue flakes of spiritual particles.

* * *

Vizard Training Ground.

* * *

" _I won't ever let you down again,"_ Ichigo thought, making a silent promise to Sayafushi, before taking the mask of his face, allowing it to crumble into powder and scatter in the wind.

"So, now that we got all the borin' shit outta' the way, let's get down the proper trainin' shall we?"

"Huh-?" Was the only intelligible thing Ichigo could utter before a Hollowfied Hyōri began her relentless assault.

"Oh boy, today's gonna be a long ass day…" Shinji sighed, taking a resting position on flat rock nearby.

* * *

One Day Later, Night-Time, Outside The Kurosaki Residence.

* * *

"Huh?! What do you mean he's not here?! This is his house isn't it?!" A spikey red haired man yelled, clearly annoyed.

"Renji, if you had even an ounce of Reiatsu awareness, you'd find that you wouldn't even be able to sense him anywhere," Rukia scolded, kicking Renji in the shin as she did.

"Why you little-!" Renji shot back, hopping on one foot, trying to sooth the pain.

"Anyway, we won't find anything out here, the next best place to check is Urahara-san's shop," Rukia concluded, after a moment of thought.

"How do you know that his parents won't know where he's gone off too?" Renji asked curiously.

"Ichigo doesn't like getting other people involved in his problems, so I doubt he'd tell any member of his family where he'd disappear too," She easily replied.

"Oh, that does makes sense…" Was all Renji said, before the two close friends made their way over to the green clad shopkeeper's place.

* * *

Vizard Training Grounds.

* * *

"Berry-tan sucks at this, huh?" Mashirō spoke up, turning to face the other Vizards.

"Well, we all had to do this training, it's how we're able to keep out masks on for extended periods of time," Rose replied, running a hand through his hair.

"Nu-uh! I didn't have to!" Mashirō protested childishly.

"Yeah you did, stop lying," Came an annoyed grunt from Kensei, who was sitting to the right of Mashirō, legs crossed.

"She's right Kensei, Mashirō could keep her mask on for fifteen hours from the very start," Shinji stated, spinning his cap on his index finger.

"Shit, I almost forgot…" Kensei grumbled, crossing his arms, whilst looking away.

"See?! Kensei you big fat dummy!" Mashirō stuck her tongue out at Kensei, causing several veins to pop out of his forehead as he grinded his teeth together angrily.

"Quieten down, you two, I'm getting to the good bit of my Manga," Came the slightly annoyed voice of Love.

"Tch," Kensei bit out, getting up from his seated position and making his way over to another side of the training area, no doubt to get away from Mashirō.

" **Hey! What's my time to now?!"** Ichigo yelled from a distance, batting away Hyōri's violent attacks, Sayafushi still in her sealed state and mask present over his sweating face.

"Eight seconds," Hachigen replied, stopping the stop watch the moment Ichigo's mask burst of his face into white spiritual energy.

"Shit!" He cursed out, feeling the very familiar wave of exhaustion wash over him every time his mask broke. _"How do I keep my mask on for longer? Hyōri's mask hasn't even cracked, let alone broken during our spars,"_ Ichigo quickly ran a clawed hand over his face, manifesting his mask as quickly as he could, so that he could block an incoming kick from the pig-tailed Vizard.

"Ichigo," Came the delicate voice of his Zanpakutō.

" _ **Huh? What's up Saya?"**_ Ichigo questioned, side-stepping an over-the-head swing.

"How are you doing at school? I hope all this business with the spiritual world hasn't decayed your grades," Sayafushi randomly brought up, causing Ichigo to question why she was asking such a question at a time like this.

" _ **Well, I'm doing all right for now, my grades have slipped a little, but it's nothing I can't fix once I get out of this mess,"**_ Ichigo replied back, thinking back to his carefree days at school. _**"Before everything went haywire, I think I had the 7**_ _ **th**_ _ **highest grade in our year, two places higher than Ishida. I'm definitely gonna' use that to piss him off later,"**_ Ichigo snickered evilly, parrying an incoming horizontal attack, whilst letting loose a flurry of his own sword swings.

"Sounds like you two are good friends," Sayafushi chimed, lightly laughing at her master's antics.

" _ **Hell no! That Quincy bastard and I are the furthest thing away from friends!"**_ Ichigo instantly rebutted.

"Oh? So do men prefer the term rivals?" She mused aloud. "I suppose it does sound manlier…" Ichigo just grumbled under his breathe, knowing she was just joking with him.

"Wow! Berry-tan's suddenly doing awesome!" Mashirō chirped in childish delight, looking very impressed. Her sudden statement snapped Ichigo back to reality causing his eyes to widen.

"That's one minutes and twenty-nine seconds," Hachi called out, the moment Ichigo's mask broke from having lost composure and focus.

"What?!" Ichigo gaped, landing on a large boulder. _"It didn't even feel like that long had passed,"_ Ichigo mused.

" **I gotta say Strawberry, y** ou learn fast," Hyōri remarked, slipping her mask of her face and sealing her blade within the confines of her Tōju. "We'll end the training for today, since you understand the basics of keeping your mask on for long periods of time," The petite Vizard stated, walking back upstairs, her hands pocketed.

"Huh? I thought I was just able to keep it on longer because I had become more physically able to do so," Ichigo said aloud, letting the Strawberry comment slide.

"What? You still don't get it?" Lisa broke in, gaining his attention.

"Get what?" He asked, his cluelessness made Lisa sigh and close the pages of her Eroge.

"The more you think about trying to keep your mask on, the quicker it'll break, so if you don't focus on keeping the mask materialized, it'll stay on for a far longer amount of time," She explained. "You have to think of it as a natural part of your body,"

"Ah, that does make sense…" Ichigo mused, seeing the logic behind her statement. _"Wait a second…"_ Ichigo thought to himself, suddenly realizing who had made him stop concentrating about keeping his mask on in the first place.

No later than when he realized Sayafushi was the one to randomly start a conversation with him mid battle, he heard a melodic laughter echo from within the confines of his Inner World. "I should have known…" Ichigo sighed, a small smile tugging at the ends of his lips.

"I guess I'll head home for today, I've been holed up in here for way too long…" Ichigo popped a few joints and jumped down from the tall rock formation he was situated on.

After Ichigo had said his goodbyes, he quickly exited the warehouse and headed straight for his house. _"Man, these past two days have been so hectic, I'm so tired,"_

"Don't forget Ichigo, you still have my training you must attended to," This caused Ichigo to groan aloud.

" _Can I at least rest for the night?"_ Ichigo asked, hoping for a bit of mercy from his Zanpakutō.

"Hmm, since you asked so nicely, I shall allow it," Sayafushi replied, using a faux, haughty accent.

" _Oh how kind you are, your highness…"_ Ichigo drawled out, trying his best to sound as sarcastic as possible.

"I do try,"

* * *

A few moments later, Ichigo had arrived at his house. He quickly made it to the front door and prepared himself to dodge an attack from his insane father.

"FATHER'S WELCOME HOME KICK OF LOVE~!" The deep voice of his father bellowed. Ichigo simply turned to his side and let his energetic dad sail past him and into the cold, dark streets.

Ichigo stepped inside, locked the door using the house keys that were still inside the lock and casually began walking up the stairs.

"Onii-chan?" Came the tired voice of Yuzu, dressed in her pyjamas, no doubt having just woken up, due to Isshin's boisterous antics. Despite her drowsiness, she quickly made her way over to her brother and spread her arms open, obviously waiting for a hug, to which he easily obliged.

"Karin, you can come out, no need to be shy," Ichigo spoke up amusedly, sensing Karin just behind her door.

"How did you know?" She answered meekly, completely unlike her usual attitude.

"A lucky guess?" Ichigo stated, ignoring her sceptical look. "Sorry about disappearing on you guys, I had a lot things I had to do," Ichigo suddenly brought up, feeling guilty. "But don't worry, everything's perfectly fine now," Ichigo finished after a moment of pause, before flashing a small, rare smile to his precious twin sisters.

Yuzu and Karin, stared with eyes slightly widened, they had noticed something off about Ichigo for the past few days and were worried about him, but now, he seemed like a new person. One brimming with confidence.

"It's ok Onii-chan, as long as you come home safe, that's all that matters to us, right Karin?" Yuzu chirped.

"R-right," Karin answered, turning her face away, getting a bit too embarrassed for her liking.

Over the course of the next few days, Ichigo had once again, begun taking Sayafushi's training and this time, Ichigo was going to make sure not to let her down. He had already suffered the consequences of doing it once, he wasn't going to let it happen twice.

Ichigo had finally managed to use Bakudō at a competent level, having learned how to pull of spells such as Shitōtsu Sansen, Hōrin and even complicated spells such as Rikujōkōrō. Though he hadn't fully mastered any of them, he could at least use them to slow down or stop an opponent for a short amount of time before they managed to break out.

"Okay, now slowly guide your Reiatsu into your palm and form Shakkahō with any incantation," Sayafushi instructed him, standing a few meters away.

Ichigo spoke the name of the spell, following her advice, he poured, his Reiatsu into the palm of his hands, while still maintaining control over it and compressing the attack down to the size of a tennis ball. It whistled through the air, sailing towards a nearby building, causing it to explode violently on contact.

"Well done Ichigo, you managed to make a rather powerful Shakkahō, that was able to hold its shape, I'm quite impressed," Sayafushi praised with a light smile.

Ichigo wiped the sweat of his brow and breathed out a sigh of relief, he had finally managed to fire a mid-level Hadō without it exploding in his face.

"Damn, using Kidō is a lot more draining than I thought," Ichigo stated, trying to catch his breathe.

"When you're able to cast Kidō without wasting any excess Reiatsu, you'll find you can cast hundreds of spells without breaking a sweat," She explained.

Before Ichigo could even respond, an all too familiar sensation reverberated throughout the area.

"A Hollow's Reiatsu?!" Ichigo snapped his attention back to the physical world and immediately honed in his senses, trying to pinpoint the source of Reiatsu.

" _This doesn't feel like an ordinary Hollow…I's no doubt those Arrancar that came the other day, are they back to finish off what they started?"_ Ichigo jumped out of bed and quickly opened his drawer. A few seconds later, after scrambling for his substitute badge, he slammed it against his chest and flew out of his open window, heading straight for the unidentified Hollow's location.

" _I'm glad it didn't show up during the day, now, hopefully less people should get involved…"_ The orange haired teen thought to himself, leaping from building to building.

"So, you're him huh? The bastard that sent that bitch Yammy cryin'?" A gruff voice from above spoke insultingly. Ichigo immediately followed the voice to its source. "I'm Grimmjow Jaguarjaqqs, remember it well, Shinigami!" Ichigo instinctively side stepped an extremely fast vertical swipe that decimated the concrete beneath his feet. "Cause' It's gonna be the last name you'll ever hear!"

* * *

 **Hello, i'm alive!**

 **This took absolutely forever to get out, I've had this sitting on my PC for months along with a bunch of other chapters of this story. It really was a pain to try and piece them together, whilst studying and working, no free time at all. But finally, here it is, hope everyone enjoyed it and hopefully it was worth the wait.**

 **I'm not too sure about my writing schedule anymore since my daily schedule is a mess at the moment, but I'll try my best to at least update this story every once in a while.**

 **Please leave a review, I enjoy reading all of them.**

 **Peace.**


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